


00q Coffee Shop

by Soren4300



Series: Gift for Ches - 00q [1]
Category: James Bond (Craig movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Coffee Shops & Cafés, I gave Q a name, James' still an agent, M/M, a little girl gets kidnapped off screen, so is Eve
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-13
Updated: 2018-01-13
Packaged: 2019-03-04 09:06:20
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,771
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13361268
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Soren4300/pseuds/Soren4300
Summary: Q meets the most annoyingly flirting man while trying to save a little girl from his building from the clutches of a trafficking ring.Meanwhile James enjoys the coffee in favour of martini, teases the hot barista and takes care of a nasty smuggling organization.





	00q Coffee Shop

The world was a dark place. Full of suffering and sacrifices. And way too bright. And noisy. A very dark and awful place. There was only one saving grace to this existence. A grace that was denied to him. All around him he could see the privileged many who could indulge themselves and it left him as an outcast, only able to watch on, _watch them_ , frolicking through this world while the treasure of life was unattainable.  
  
“One big latte macchiato with extra whipped cream.”  
  
A dark place indeed. He grumbled something that could have been an affirmation or a death threat. It was supposed to be a 'what's your name' but he couldn't bring himself to care as he was forced to work the morning shift behind the counter after sleeping for eleven hours in the last five days and only running on unholy energy. The kidnappers weren't going to turn themselves in after all and time was essential. But so was money. College life taught one to prioritize. He still had time. The trafficking wouldn't start in another three weeks. _He had made sure of that._ He would do anything to find her.  
  
He could hear his co-worker preparing the liquid ambrosia that could end all his suffering and was going to stare at the next customer in line with dead eyes when he saw new customers enter through the door.  
  
It was a man and a woman. He thought he had seen the woman before.  
  
“A- _chem_.”  
  
He turned his eyes back on the humanoid creature in front of him and stared at them blankly.  
  
A few seconds passed.  
  
“ _Achem!_ ”  
  
“What would you like to order.” A zombie sounded more melodic.  
  
“Sir.”, the creature, apparently identifying as a man, added.  
  
_"There's no need to call me sir._ ” He felt a little less dead as he saw the outrage on the face in front of him and heard an appalling coughing fit to his right. His co-worker was the only saving grace to this hellhole. She at least could appreciate the finer arts of life. Like sassing awful customers. She was still a foul beast though. A foul beast that had thwarted every single one of his attempts to obtain caffeine. Something about caring for his sleep schedule.  
  
“I WANT TO SPEAK TO THE MANAGER!” Screaming was _totally_ unnecessary. He leaned back slightly, looking at the creature with judging eyes. Or what currently substituted for them.  
  
“There is no manager. Piss off.” Ah. Would he ever get his filter back. Who knew. Not him.  
  
Watching the creature leave with empty eyes the man stepped forth.  
  
“Well hello there, beautiful.”, the man said with a deep voice and a smile.  
  
He responded flatly:”What would you like to order.”  
  
“Since you're asking so nicely one cappuccino with whipped cream, extra milk and two spoons of sugar. And a black coffee.”  
  
“May I know your name.”  
  
“Charming~” That man was too cheerful. And he knew exactly what he was doing. His eyes said it all. How was that allowed. It should be against some kind of universal law. His glare intensified.  
  
When he looked away from the man to prepare a part of the order the cappuccino was already done. He looked at the sugar spoon in his right hand. Huh. Maybe he _did_ need some sleep after all of this was over.  
  
His co-worker had also finished the holy brew and put it on a tablet for the man. The man paid for the order and left with a wink in his direction.  
  
The most annoying thing was asshole had left a really nice tip. 

\---

James was itching to take out the tail following him like an utter buffoon. His tail knew nothing about shadowing someone and it showed painfully. Close to just ending this little game he stepped into the coffee shop where had discussed the current mission with Money Penny some days ago. He had stopped by several times now. Not because the interior looked so nice or because it was close to MI6. No, somehow their coffee was divine and there was also another perk.  
  
The trail was loitering next to the door, looking as if he was waiting for someone. Bloody amateur.  
  
He focused on the inside of the shop and strided to the counter where he saw the young man again. He was alone today. He looked a bit worse every time. Kid was probably a college student with how dead he looked on his feet. But James knew a beautiful face when he saw it and the sass the kid had shown him every time made it just too tempting to rile him up. The kid looked at him. Then the kid _saw_ him. James didn't fight the smirk rising on his face. The kid's blush was a pretty sight. But he still never got a name, no matter how persistent he was. Another quality that attracted him.  
  
“Good morning beautiful~ You're looking just too lovely today.” Money Penny would tell him not to pick on customer service workers but she wasn't here.  
  
“And I don't do kinkshaming. Your order.” So he knew he looked like a corpse.  
  
“The black coffee again. Can I still not convince you to add some martini? For me?”, James leaned closer, placing his elbows on the counter. His chin was resting on his interlaced fingers and he batted his eye lashes playfully. He loved riling the kid up. Man. Young adult. Definitely legal.  
  
He was about to get a scathing response when he saw his tail moving away from the door in the reflection of the glass panel beneath the counter.  
  
“Actually, make that to go.” His voice was still perfectly polite and charming but all teasing qualities had left. He noticed but it didn't really matter. James knew he just looked like a business man with too much time and not a special agent of Her Majesty. He gave a devastating smile as farewell and relished the unamused faint blush it earned him.  
  
Now it was time to show this imbecile how to artfully shadow the enemy. Aaah, the coffee had no right to be this good. He would have to charm the kid into telling him where they got their beans from. Maybe some good take out?  


\---

The stake out was the most boring part of a mission, staying still for sometimes hours while the trap was set up. Trailing the amateur had taken hours but yielded the desired results in the end. His ear piece crackled to life over the close sound of waves crashing against concrete.  
  
“Mission start.”  
  
Money Penny was the only one going in with him since other ongoing and far greater crimes took up most of their personnel right now. _His_ reason for participating was punishment for the collateral damage that had piled up on his last mission. It was still not his fault the madman had destroyed his hide out which just so had happened to be located under the local peruvian street market. And well, they all knew _she_ was here to make sure he behaved.  
  
Melting into the shadows he creeped through the night, entering through a broken window near the roof. At least intel had done its job.  
  
He made his way through the warehouse, Money Penny his silent back up. They carefully stepped down the stairs, his beloved Walther PPK pointed at the plain steel door separating the otherwise barren hallway from the next room.  
  
Moonlight fell through cracked and broken windows, letting them see everything clearly enough. Money Penny scurried to the left side of the door while he sidled up to the other side and then gave their position to the rookies watching the room ahead. They reported a tied up person. Whether alive or recently deceased couldn't be determined yet. No other heat signatures were detectable. The position of potential traps was unknown.  
  
Checking the lock the door gave in and he gently pushed the door. Well, tried to. It wouldn't budge after a certain point. Sharing a look with Money Penny she nodded.  
  
He lived for the thrill anyway, he thought as they kicked the door wide open, causing a truly spine shuddering screech to emit from the hinges. Near the centre of the room, amidst various broken machines lay an unidentifiable heap, most likely the aforementioned person.  
  
They waited, guns cocked and eyes on everything at once.  
  
Nothing happened.  
  
Slowly and with utmost care they inched further into the room towards the person. The light wasn't as good in here but still sufficient. He could already make out a dark set of curls and a long curled up body, the wrists tied together at the back. Bond moved closer and closer until he could unmistakeably say it was a man.  
  
He shared another quick look with his partner and then leaned down to check on the pulse.  
  
He felt it beat rapidly beneath his finger tips.  
  
Lightning fast he stepped back and audibly drew his gun on the person.  
  
Seconds that could have passed as hours went by until the body on the floor slowly, oh so slowly, rolled on is knees and lifted his head.  
  
What was the kid doing here.  
  
“Hey kid.”, he said as he catalogued every single injury he could find. Too many. What was he doing here? He holstered his gun and went to untie him.  
  
“ _Am … twenny too..._ ”, came the raspy reply, making it clear how long he had gone without any water.  
  
Helping him to his feet James held him carefully, feeling the tremors that ran through the kids body, knowing that Money Penny had their surroundings covered.  


\---

When the world stopped spinning he looked through the weird spots in his vision at the person next to him. And then looked again. His brain was trying to tell him that the annoying asshole was standing next to him, but his brain couldn't be trusted fully right now. It's what got him into this situation in the first place.  
  
That asshole would have a field day if he ever found he had hallucinated him. That would _not_ happen.  
  
“Well, I may let it slide if you tell me were you get the coffee beans from.” Was that concern he heard?  
  
… … …  
  
He needed sleep.  
  
No.  
  
Nonononono. He needed … he needed to … _what was the mess his brain had got him into?_ Think, come on, _think!_  
  
“Alright ... how about we get you out of here and have some coffee together afterwards?”  
  
“ _007..._ ” Was that a second voice? He needed to get it together. He had to-  
  
_He had to get Lucía and the other children out of here before they sold her._  
  
That short moment of clarity was enough to get his thoughts on track. He looked at the hallucination and tore at it's ear. He was satisfied with the hiss and warm skin between his fingers. A real person. Excellent. Now his tongue just had to cooperate.  
  
“They … still 'ave-” Forget his tongue his throat was the problem right now, he thought as he hacked up his lungs from the cold and the pain from speaking.  
  
He tried again.  
  
“ _Laptop._ ", he rasped.  
  
"They have my laptop.”  
  
Damn, that hurt.  
  
“A laptop can be replaced, we need to get you out of here now.”, said the not-hallucination as it gently but unmistakenly pushed him to the doors. Wrong direction. He knew that. He had stared long enough at the wretched layout of this building.  
  
“I have-”, bloody coughing. He tried to get away from the door. He couldn't put up any fight though. He hadn't been taking care of his body in the past weeks.  
  
“I ha- ...I have sensitive data about them there.”  
  
“And why, may I ask, would have have something like that?”, the voice inquired. Growled? Rumbled? That warmth was really nice.  
  
“Because I was tearing their smuggling ring apart. We need to... We need to go through the other door.” Take _that_ , throat.  
  
“Tearing the-?!”  
  
“The exit-!”  
  
“I know whe- ...where the exit is. Now ... let me...”  
  
And everything went black.  


\---

James walked through the hospital with brisk steps after having charmed the number of the kid's room from an unsuspecting nurse. She didn't stand a chance.  
  
Arriving in front of the door, he opened it with his left ring finger and pinky since all the other ones were occupied with holding two cups of coffee upright. Luckily the messenger back didn't slide down his shoulder. A suitcase would have aroused suspicion. The coffee was naturally not from the hospital, but the shop. Hospital food and drinks were not to be trusted.  
  
He was met with silence when he stepped through the door into the small white room. Through the window on the opposite side he could see clouds gathering and then focused his attention on the man leaning against the headboard of the bed, piecing him with distrustful eyes.  
  
The silence continued as he gently placed the cup for the man before him on the night stand.  
  
“Good day to you too.” The bruises had almost completely faded, he noticed. He was not enough of a fool to ignore the sensation in his chest, how an ever vigilant part of himself could finally relax.  
  
“I think this would be the time for a proper introduction, don't you think?”  
  
No answer. Maybe he should have announced his visit and not just waltzed in.  
  
“My name is Bond. James Bond. Now you don't have to call me annoying asshole anymore.” Finally a reaction. He had made more stubborn people talk. Not that he would resort to some of the things he had done. Nathaniel, _and wasn't that a surprise_ , wasn't an enemy.  
  
The man, not a kid, not after all of this, still refused to contribute anything to make this monologue a dialogue so James continued and just stared him in the eyes.  
  
“My boss would like to thank for your help in dealing with the smuggling ring. But wouldn't you agree that it's an unusual hobby to have?”  
  
… … … Alright. Time to get personal. It went against his pride to blink first.  
  
“It's a good thing little Lucía is safe again.” _Finally._  
  
“ _Why._ Are you _here._ ”  
  
“I'm here to offer you a position within the government.”  
  
“Not interested.” Ouch.  
  
“Of course, but you're surely aware that your own actions haven't been quite legal.” He flashed his most gorgeous smile to cover the hidden threat.  
  
The man suddenly leaned forwards and snarled at him with narrowed eyes:”Are you trying to _blackmail me?_ ”  
  
“I have been instructed to be nice. So I'd call it more of a … reminder.” That had backfired... Time to change tactics.  
  
“You can prove nothing.”  
  
“I'm actually inclined to believe that. Quite a lot of unexplainable things had happened to the smuggling ring. But do you really want to work behind a counter in a random little coffee shop if you could do all of this again but get paid handsomely for it?”  
  
James had his attention. Excellent. And now... … …  
  
“To receive funds for realising your ideas we talked about.”, he continued. Those were indeed some truly exquisite things. And maybe someday he would even get his _pen._  
  
Nathaniel leaned back again and contemplated the cup on his night stand before taking a sip, deeming it good enough.  
  
It was nice to see him relaxed. Was he getting soft? No, he had seen him beat up and deeply hurt not even a week ago. It was a normal reaction.  
  
“And who would be my new employer?”, he asked before taking another sip.  
  
“Why, no one else than MI6 of course.” He did _not_ time his response to make the man choke, he _swore it_ on Tanner's tulips. Which the man in return swore he didn't have.  
  
“Your boss is _MI6?!_ ” That was the first time James had seen the man so unguarded. He couldn't help but grin.  
  
“Fine. Yes. _Yes_ , I agree.”  
  
“Wonderful.” James stepped forward to take out the laptop from his bag and put it on the otherwise empty night stand. Before he lost the chance forever he placed a light kiss on _Q's_ forehead and left the room with a wink.  
  
Just before he closed the door he stopped and added playfully:”The next time we see each other we could talk about hallucinations and coffee beans if you'd like that~”  
  
Something hid the door just as he let go of the handle and James had to smile at the quite creative curse from the other side. He couldn't wait too see how far downward that blush went.  



End file.
